Delivery mechanism for signature-stitching machines



M. CHRISTENSEN.

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR SIGNATURE STITCHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3 Patented July 25, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

M.- CHRlSTEH-SEBL DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR SIGNATURE STITCHING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3. 1920.

1,423,647. Patented July 25, 1922.

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Application filed Juno 3,

T 0 all 20 hom it may concern Be it known that'I, MARTIN CHRISTENSEN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Racine, in the county of Racine and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Delivery Mechanism for Signature-Stitching Machines, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

The present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in signature stitching machines and has for one of its objects to provide improved delivery means so constructed and positioned as to save floor space and permit better supervision of the work of the machine.

Another object of this invention is to provide means for positively feeding the signatures from the discharge mechanism of the machine to the delivery belt and for preventing the folding of the signatures during such feeding operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for delivering signatures from the front side of a signature stitching machine which will be simple in construction, efficient and positive in operation, and capable of production at a comparatively small expense, all things considered.

"With the above and other objects in View which will appear as the description pro ceeds, my invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the a pended claims, it being understood that such. changes in the precise embodiment of my invention may be made as come within the scope of the claims;

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of my invention constructed according to the best mode I haveso far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of my improved delivery mechanism, said view being taken on the planeindica'ted by the line 1-l of Figure 4;, a portion of the delivery end of a signature stitching machine being shown in transverse section.

Figure 2 is a view part in section and Specification of Letters latent.

Fatented July as, man.

1920. serial No. 386,236.

partin elevation taken on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 8 is'a fragmentary detail view of Eh? outer end oftwo of the series of delivery e ts.

Figure 4: is a view looking at my improved delivery mechanism, said view being taken on the plane indicated by line 4l4 of Figure l.

Figure 5 1s a VIEW, part in section and part in. rear elevation of the receiving end of my improved delivery mechanism, said view being taken on the plane indicated by the line 55 of Figure 1, and- Figure 6 is a sectional view taken through the receiving end of my delivery mechanism on the line 6-6 of Figure 5. c

in stitching machines, after the groups of signatures are stitched by the stitchers, they are fed to the discharge means of the ma chine by the stitcher feed and are then discharged from the machine, and the present invention relates to delivery mechanism, for receiving the discharged signatures at the the front of front side of the machine whereby the operator of the machine may supervise the finished work and whereby considerable floor space 18 saved by various arrangements of arts.

The finished signatures 10 are fed along the signature saddle 11 to the discharge end D of the stitching machine by means of the feeding mechanism (not shown), and are then ejected from. themachine over rollers 12 between endless belts 13 carried by pulleys 14: ournaled in the bearing brackets 15.,

Fly delivery mechanism. consists of side bracket members 16 having their lower ends formed with securing flanges 17 which are secured to the machine frame 18 by suitable fastenings 19 and having their upper outer end provided with upstanding ears or lugs 20 to which are pivotally secured the ends of a transverse bar 21. The transverse bar their outer ends.

The outer end of the frame formed by the members 21, 23 and 25 is supported at the proper height from the floor by means of standards 26 having their upper ends secured to the transverse bar 25.

The bearing portion 27 is formed on the upper end of each bracket member 16 rearwardly of the projection 20 and has journalled therein the adjacent end of a shaft 28 upon which a plurality of rollers or pulleys 29 are mounted in line with each bar 23. A roller or pulley 30 is ournalled in the outer end of each bearing bracket 24:, and the pulleys 29 and 30 in line with the same bar 23 are connected by means ofan endlessbelt 31. The plurality of endless delivery belts thus provided arranged in spaced relation form the means for delivering the discharged signatures from the stitching machine.

The conveying belts 31 are adapted to be I simultaneously intermittently advanced and this movement is imparted thereto by means of a drive connection. between the shaft 37 and the driven shaft 32 in connection with the drive (not shown) of the stitching machine. The shaft 32 is journalled in a hearing 33 formed on the innermost bearing bracket 16 and has mounted thereon an eccentric cam 34 on which tracks a roller mem ber 35 journalled in the free end of an arm 36 having its upper end fixed to a shaft 37 having its end journalled in the bracket members 16. The inner ends of the shafts 28 and 37 are projected slightly beyond the adjacent bearing bracket 16 and have a ratchet wheel 39 and a crank armflO secured thereto respectively. The crank arm 10 has pivotally secured thereto one end of a pawl 11 and its free end 42 engaging the periphery of the ratchet wheel 39 so that a movement to the left, with reference to Figure 1 of the crank arm e0 will impart a counterclockwise partial rotation to the ratchet wheel 39 and consequently to the conveyor belts 31. i I a As the receiving end of the conveyor belts are positioned beneath the discharge means of the stitching machine, I provide means for receiving, the signatures 10, as they are discharged, and placing the same upon the belt 31 in semi-packed or stacked relation, and this means consists of a plurality of feed fingers 413 having their inner ends secured to collars 44 mounted on the shaft 37 in spaced relation, one being disposed centrally of each adjacent pair of delivery belts. The collars 44 the shaft 37 that when is positioned as in Figure 1 the upper free ends of the feed fingers will be positioned adjacent the discharge rollers 12 of the stitching machine so that the signatures 10 will slide downwardly on the fingers to the position depicted in Figure 1.

In order to insure the sliding against the feed fingers of the signatures, a plurality of are so positioned on the eccentric cam 34- guide fingers 4L5 are depended from the hearing l 'acket 15 and ranged in spaced relation so that the feed fingers in their oscillation will pass therebetween. The roll er is at all times yieldingly urged to engage the periphery of the eccentric cam 34 by means of a contractile spring 46 having one end secured to the machine frame and its other end secured to a depending arm 47 secured as at 48 to the shaft 37.

As the signatures being handled are oftentimes formed of very flimsy material and their lower. edges slide away from the feed fingers, I provide means for preventing this sliding away of the lower edges of the signatures, which means arewithdrawn from the path of the signatures upon actuation of the feed fingers bv thecam 34:. This means includes a plurality of vertical stop fingers 19 having their lower ends secured to a bar 50 having its outer end j ournalled in the outer ends 51 of levers 52 having their inner ends fixed to a shaft 53 journalled in bearings 5% secured to the machine frame. The upper ends of the stop fingers 119 are guided through apertures in a brace bar 55 extending across the space between the bracket members 16 just beneath the top half of the conveying belts and secured to the bracket members 16 as at 56. As best shown in Figures 4 and 5, a stop linger 4:9 is positioned at each side of each feed finger 4.3, and I provide means for depressing the stop fingers a9 immediately upon the movement of the feedfingers 13 from their full line position in Figure 1 to the dotted line position.

The feed. fingers 19 are actuated by means 7 urged at all, times to engage with the periphery of the eccentric cam 57 by means of two extensile springs 60 coiled about two of the fingers 4:9 and having their ends hearing against the bar 50 and the underside of the bar 55. a

As best shown in Fig-lure 1, with the eccentric cams 34 and 57 in their full line positions depicted in Figure 1, the stops 49 will be at their full limit of movement, the conveyor belts 31 stationary and the feed fingers 13 positioned with their upper'ends adjacent the discharge rollers 12 to receive the signature about to be discharged from the stitching machine, the shaft 32 being so timed with the discharge mechanism of the stitching machine to insure this relative position of the various parts. Immediately upon the discharge of thesignatures from the stitching machine, the cam 34, which. is continually rotating, permits the roller 35 carried bv' the arm to move to the left, with reference to Figure 1 underactuation of the spring 46 and thus advance the belts 31 and also move the feed fingers 43 to the dotted line position.

The cam 57 is so positioned with respect to the eccentric cam 3% that immediately upon movement of the feed fingers from their full line position depicted in Figure 1, the roller 58 will be permitted to move to the left with reference to Figure 1 under action of its springs 60. The tops of the fingers 49 will then be positioned flush with the top of the cross bar 55.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawin s, it will be at once apparent to those skilled in the art to which an invention of this character appertains, that by position ing the delivering mechanism on the front side of the machine, one person can operate the machine and at the same time supervise the completed signatures; that a large amount of floor space is saved by the machine; and that the efiiciency of the entire machine is increased.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a frame including a horizontally extendin portion having its inner end positioned ad acent the discharge end of a stitching machine or the like, rollers journaled in the inner and outer ends of said horizontal frame portion, a belt on said rollers, a shaft journaled in said frame, a feed finger mounted on said shaft, a bell crank fixed on said shaft, a drive shaft, a cam on said drive shaft, means to maintain one arm of said bell crank in operative engagement with said cam, a ratchet associated with one of said rollers, and a pawl carried by the other arm of said bell crank and adapted to engage said ratchet, whereby said belt is intermittently advanced and said feed finger is simultaneously oscillated, for the purpose specified.

2. In apparatus of the class described,

the combination of a frame including a horizontally extending portion having its inner end positioned adjacent the discharge end of a stitching machine, or the like, a shaft journaled in the inner end and a plurality of spaced rollers journaled in the outer end of said horizontal frame portion, a plurality of rollers on said shaft in alignment with said first mentioned rollers, belts on said respective sets of rollers, a second shaft journaled in said frame, aplurality of feed fingers mounted on second shaft and projecting upwardly between said belts, respectively, a bell crank fixed on said second shaft, a drive shaft, a cam on said drive shaft, means to maintain one arm of said bell crank in operative engagement with said cam, a ratchet associated with said first mentioned shaft, and a pawl carried by the other arm of said bell crank and adapted to engage said ratchet, whereby said belts are intermittently advanced and said feed fingers are simultaneously oscillated, for the purpose specified.

8. I11 apparatus of the class described, the combination of a frame including a horizontally extending portion having its inner end positioned adjacent the discharge end of a stitching machine, or the like, rollers journaled in the inner and outer ends of said horizontal frame portion, a belt on said rollers, a shaft journaled in said frame, a feed finger mounted on said shaft, a bell crank fixed on said shaft, a drive shaft, a cam on said drive shaft, a ratchet associated with one of said rollers, a pawl carried by the other arm of said bell crank and adapted to engage said ratchet, a rock shaft journaled in said frame, a bell crank mounted on said rock shaft, a stop finger carried by one arm of said last mentioned bell crank, a second cam on said drive shaft adapted to bear against the other arm of said last'mentioned bell crank, and means to maintain said bell cranks in operative engagement with said cams, respectively, whereby said stop finger is moved into inoperative position, said belt intermittently advanced and said feed finger oscillated,

, for the purpose specified.

4. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a frame including a horizontally extending portion having its inner end positioned adjacent the discharge end of a stitching machine or the like, a shaft journaled in the inner end and a plurality of spaced rollers journaled in the outer end of said horizontal frame portion, a plurality of rollers on said shaft in alignment with said first mentioned rollers, belts on said respective sets of rollers, a second shaft journaled in said frame, a plurality of feed fingers mounted on second shaft and projecting upwardly between said belts, respectively, a bell crank fixed on said second shaft, a drive shaft, a cam on said drive shaft, a ratchet associated with said first mention ed shaft, a pawl carried by the other arm of said bell crank and adapted to engage said ratchet, a rock shaft journaled in said frame, a bell crank mounted on said rock shaft, a transversely extending bar connected to one arm of said last mentioned bell crank, a plurality of stop fingers carried by said bar and adapted to project upwardly between said belts, respectively, a second cam on said drive shaft and adapted to engage the other arm of said last mentioned bell crank, and means to maintain said bell cranks in operative engagement with said cams, respectively, for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

MARTIN CHRISTENSEN. 

